There is a problem, factories are tedious. This change doesn't address this, it just makes us have to use them less. A big chunk of what factories were used for was just scooped out. And, I mean, it's not like this chunk in particular was worse than others, it was just the most prominent one, by virtue of the great volume and variety of hull. Even if the removal was partial, this was a decision of "factories are bad, let's remove them" rather than "factories are problematic, let's fix them".

Social Media Director

There is a problem, factories are tedious. This change doesn't address this, it just makes us have to use them less. A big chunk of what factories were used for was just scooped out. And, I mean, it's not like this chunk in particular was worse than others, it was just the most prominent one, by virtue of the great volume and variety of hull. Even if the removal was partial, this was a decision of "factories are bad, let's remove them" rather than "factories are problematic, let's fix them".

Vaygr loves my warhead bat.

I am quite glad that the multiple block types to be manufactured were removed. It was a PAIN IN THE ASS to have to make one for every type, and it simplifies factories significantly now that we don't have to worry about it.

There is a problem, factories are tedious. This change doesn't address this, it just makes us have to use them less. A big chunk of what factories were used for was just scooped out. And, I mean, it's not like this chunk in particular was worse than others, it was just the most prominent one, by virtue of the great volume and variety of hull. Even if the removal was partial, this was a decision of "factories are bad, let's remove them" rather than "factories are problematic, let's fix them".

2 questions, but the second one is sarcastic, so really just one:
1. Would getting rid of factories really be that bad? They really add very little to the core engagement, and are mostly tedious. Just because they are part of the game now doesn't mean they have to stay. I would like them to stay (and to keep similar logical functionality, I think it's neat) but, objectively speaking, the devs could scrap them and it probably wouldn't affect the quality of the end product all that much.

Alright, serious discussion over, I'm going to let the troll out now:

2. Is this really the hill you want to die on? Is this the fight you want to wage? Out of this whole update, you're going to pick the one feature that's been heavily requested for at least the full year and a half I've been playing, and nitpick that? It really only takes one fight on the update thread for everyone to think your a troll for the rest of your forum based existence, and you're going to spend your token on 4 extra factories per hull type? Turn back now man, you can still save it for when they implement NPC crews, that one's sure to shatter the current game play.

PS I do actually, legitimately like the factory system as it stands, and my profile picture is of a factory floor I built to make all the different kinds of hull automatically and now all that work is totally unnecessary, but it was also kind of silly that it was necessary in the first place, right?

Arana'Aethi

There is a problem, factories are tedious. This change doesn't address this, it just makes us have to use them less. A big chunk of what factories were used for was just scooped out. And, I mean, it's not like this chunk in particular was worse than others, it was just the most prominent one, by virtue of the great volume and variety of hull. Even if the removal was partial, this was a decision of "factories are bad, let's remove them" rather than "factories are problematic, let's fix them".

Consider the fact that, whatever new factory system is added, it would in principle do the same thing: Take raw materials and produce either blocks or (hopefully) a complete ship. It would just do that in a more enjoyable and less tedious manner than the current system. If this update's change was not made, you would still have to queue up different shapes to craft, or make a separate factory system to craft each shape, or whatever the new system requires... With the new system, you just produce the base block and you're good to go.

Cobalt-Blooded Bullet Mirror

It's a bit disorienting having to scroll to get to the alternate shape selection. Allowing players to press the number of the current hotbar slot to access the variants tab would be great! Other than that, great work on the new system, I found it very useful once I got the hang of it!

Grates are perfect for stairs if you rotate a straight section 45' via rails. And, of course, handrails are a thing now! I'm assuming better colliders are planned for a later update?

Being able to turn light bars on/off and choosing a corner variant is nice; Many more uses for them now.

Can't wait to see those extended textures be put to-use. That sand demo looks really nice.

Is block shape selection menu inaccessible if you set "primary mouse wheel function" to "ZOOM" ?

In other words, how do I place different shapes if I do not want my mouse wheel to scroll throuth slots and mess with my hotbar selection ? It is faster and more convenient to select slots by pressing numbers on the keyboard directly anyway. But it seems now I am forced to scroll around for ages.

Good to see good update again but i have some problems since the previous update with the invisible rails, i explain (sorry for my bad english).
In the previous release of the game, my pickup rails pointing in the opposite direction of the movement of the ship who is docked to.
In this release, this problem is fix but 2 new ones appears.
- The pickup rail block orientation preview in the advanced build mode dont appear, and the arrow showing the direction of the block, when i want to place it, pointing in the wrong direction. Only with the pickup rail block.
- The Pickup Point rail block appear sometimes with a cross in the middle of the block like if it was" the pickup point not working ".
So, when i try to dock on with a ship, the pickup point just dont appear.
I can give you some screenshot if its not enought clear with my explaination but idk why i have this cross on this block without any reason.

I also would like to know if you work on a system or a rail block to connect rails between different ship.
To move, only on rails, your docked drone docked on the space station, to your mothership docker on an other place on the space station.
For the moment, you have to take the control of the docked drone, undock it, move close to the pickup point and be carefull selecting the dock block in the item ship bar, then finaly the ship dock to the next rail.
With that kind of rail, we could also do some reshapable ship or multiple part ship you could redock like you want to a core ship part and maybe with some movable part (like a transformer with different part reshaping, depending of it docking place on the core ship part for exemple).

I hope my message will help you, i also hope to have some answers to my questions and i hope this message is enought clear to be understandable, its the first time i write a message here.
Thx for this fabulous game ! and keep add more and more stuff, its awesome everytime!

I would like the choice to go back to the old one button system, only because for me this new system makes the game unplayable. My mouse has no scroll wheel it has a ball instead so i can no longer pick different shapes.